The Ministry of Culture of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France for the preservation of India's manuscript heritage.

New Delhi – The Ministry of Culture signed a Memorandum of Understanding with representatives of Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), giving new direction to cooperation in the preservation and digitisation of India’s manuscript heritage. Under this agreement, the two institutions will collaborate to provide technical assistance, expert training and to establish a community platform for the preservation, restoration, high‑resolution scanning and online accessibility of manuscripts. Thousands of ancient manuscripts housed in various national and state libraries, museums and private archives across India will be prioritised under this initiative, enabling not only their preservation but also making them accessible to researchers and the general public.

In recent years, India has taken several steps in digital libraries and the preservation of cultural heritage, such as the National Digital Library (NDL) and various state‑level digitisation projects. However, a lack of expertise and advanced technical resources has made the preservation of many rare manuscripts challenging. France’s national library is a world leader in the digitisation and preservation of manuscripts; through this collaboration, India will gain access to state‑of‑the‑art scanning equipment, metadata standards and secure data‑storage technologies.

The agreement is another example of the growing cultural and educational cooperation between the two countries, aligning with the numerous bilateral agreements concluded last year. Both parties also agreed that joint research projects, scholar exchanges and annual conferences will be organised in the future, enabling India’s manuscript heritage to receive international recognition and preservation. The Government of India has … the national cultural heritage.